Contracts for the next Chinese AP1000s

18 August 2010

A framework has been established for two AP1000 units at Xianning as well as a factory for their pre-assembled modules. Shaw will continue its role in support, but Westinghouse has no major involvement.

Contracts are signed for the nuclear islands of Xianning 1 and 2

A round of contracts signed yesterday marked a triple-first for Chinese nuclear. The first inland AP1000 project at Xianning, Hubei province; the first AP1000 project for utility China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) and the country's move to the next phase of its self-sufficiency plan.

Four AP1000s were imported from a Westinghouse-Shaw consortium in December 2006 and these are all now mid-construction. That first phase saw Westinghouse and Shaw lead construction and gradually pass know-how to State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC).

SNPTC was at the centre of yesterday's contracts for Xianning 1 and 2: it signed to lead construction for future plant owner CGNPC; for support from Shaw; and with a range of manufacturers for component supply.

Shaw said it will provide "technical support services, which include engineering and design management, project controls, quality assurance, construction management and project management as well as health, safety and environmental managment." This is the first deal under a 'task based' strategic cooperation agreement signed with SNPTC in April last year that extends for an unspecified number of reactors.

The large pre-assembled modules that will make up the bulk of the new AP1000s are to come from a new facility in Hubei province owned by new firm Hubei Nuclear Power Equipment Company. This was founded yesterday by subsidiaries of SNPTC, CGNPC and China Shipbuilding Industry Co (Shandong Nuclear Power Equipment Manufacturing Co, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Engineering and Wuchang Ship Heavy Industries respectively). The reactor pressure vessel for unit 1 has already been ordered from China First Heavy Industries.

Vice-Governor of Hubei, Li Xiansheng said the move heralded a 'new beginning' for the province which wished to 'seize the national historic opportunity.'

SNPTC said the power plant and its infrastructure should provide 'an inexhaustible motive force for economic development'.

The other plant sites slated to have AP1000s contracted soon include Taohuajiang in Hunan province (also inland) and Pengze in Jiangxi province, while many more sites follow at earlier stages of planning. Ground preparations for Xianning 1 and 2 are well advanced and construction could start even before 2011. The overall cost of four AP1000s ultimately planned there was put at 60 billion yuan ($8.8 billion).